The Guardians' Throne - The First Magic Swordsman

                          In the end, since they headed straight through the port through the woods, they made a lot of progress in a single night. Another reason for that was the fact that Zaos only killed six assassins… he was pretty sure that many others were keeping their eyes on the mine, but they decided to retreat once things started to look weird. Regardless, around the time the sun began to rise, they were back at the Ojala mansion, and they couldn't help but frown since the place was abandoned.

  "Is this good or bad?" Drannor asked.

"Both, we can take things from here in order to make life in the mines a bit less uncomfortable," Erean said. "We can also use a few things to make some traps along the way. We should scavenge the place and leave things behind here somewhere for when we return."

              Everyone nodded. While they needed some time to rest, they couldn't afford it, so they just began to work in silence. As for Zaos, he stayed outside the mansion in order to get rid of the enemies that might approach. Fortunately, they had three hours to get as many things as they could from the mansion, and no one got on their way. It seemed that all the assassin6 were stationed near the port.

"I wonder if they read our plans and that is why they are there…" Zaos thought.

            While it was a bit risky to move during the day since the chances of them being found out would increase exponentially, the group moved toward the port anyway, and Noemi was the one who led them across the woods. She knew these parts very well. Hence, she knew which paths most people would use, even assassins.

          At some point, even Drannor and the others who were supposed to be well-rested were showing expressions of fatigue. They were used to marching, but the terrain was a bit too much, as if things weren't troublesome enough. When the sun began to set, they still had a long way ahead of them.

"We will have to increase our pace," Noemi declared. "I assume that we need to be on the way back several hours before sunrise, right?"

"Yes, while we are ready for a fight, we can't let them react too soon," Erean said. "In order to succeed in sending a message to our allies and to the people of other islands, we will need some time and it will be in our best interest if assassins weren't trying to surround us while we do that."

        Since they didn't find any enemy during the day, the group felt safe in increasing their pace more than a little bit. Zaos was hanging there, even though he was pale like a ghost. Everyone was absolutely exhausted, but they arrived at the port at midnight. Things were as quiet as they could be since most people that lived there didn't know what was happening in the interior of the island.

"Where can we find the ravens and where do you think Ferdinand is?" Erean asked.

"The ravens that are ready to be used are in that building on the left side of the aviary," Noemi said. "As for where Ferdinand is supposed to be… I have no idea. I am sorry."

"It is all right, attacking him now might solve our problem, but we lose our advantage here if we attack," Erean said. "Let's focus on silencing anyone inside that building, Zaos, you are up."

                Instead of that, Zaos felt like looking for the building that had the strangest presence around, but that would take too much time. He wanted to solve the entire situation as fast as possible, but at the same time, he just couldn't.

          The port town was pretty large, so they had to take a roundabout route to reach the back of the place. Although they didn't find anyone guarding the place's exterior, they still had to pass nearby residences. The people in those mainly were asleep, but Zais felt the movements in some, and at that time in the night, he had no idea if they were just normal people up or assassins guarding the area… unfortunately, they couldn't just invade all homes and silence, everyone, around just to be safe than sorry.

              Once they got behind the building of the message, Zaos felt some weird movement in them. Those kinds of places were supposed to keep running day and night, but Zaos could tell that the few people working inside weren't actually working.

              Zaos gave the sign to everyone that they were all enemies. Considering the possibility that Ferdinand was waiting for Reinforcements, it was only natural that he would close that building once he sent the messages for his allies to come. Aside from those messages, he couldn't risk leaving the island.

              Zaos saw two weird-looking guards behind the gate of the building, and Zaos found the presence of the other two inside. Killing them and opening the gate without making any noise would be difficult, but they didn't have any other choice.

"You three stay here and guard Noemi and Ameria," Erean said. "The others will follow me, once we clear the path you can come."

"Zaos can kill those guys with his magic and crossbow, but we can't let them fall," Drannor said. "Give me a boost here and I can jump over this fence in no time."

            In the end, Erean nodded since they couldn't make any noise. Erean prepared himself to make Drannor jump higher by using both arms, and Drannor gained some distance to run. Once he got close enough, he jumped a little and then landed on Erean's hands. The veteran soldier used all his might and then made him cross the fence in a single motion. That was quite impressive since the fence was five meters tall. It was even more impressive the fact Drannor landed without making any noise.

                Once Zaos got a clear view of the two guards, he pointed his crossbow at them and then pulled the trigger two times in a row. With cat-like agility, Drannor dashed toward them and held the corpses by the neck.